“I’m not speaking of the kiss itself,” she said, reddening with a combination of embarrassment and annoyance.Why is he being so difficult when I’m trying to do the right thing?“I’m speaking of the fact I tried to trap you in marriage!”
The Duke shrugged. “You wouldn’t be the first.” He leaned closer to her, so that his mouth was far too near hers. “And I’m sure you won’t be the last.”
She stepped back, to get away from him, her annoyance flaring even more strongly. “I’m trying to say something important and you are making everything into a joke,” she snapped. “It isn’t very gentlemanly.”
“Haven’t you realized by now, Lady Leah? I am not a gentleman.”
The Duke’s eyes were sparkling, the mirth in them somehow dangerous, and Leah felt the annoyance edge away--replaced by something else. A desire to beat him at his own game.
Leaning back toward him, she brought her chin up and looked him directly in the eyes.
“You keep saying you’re such a rake, that you’re not a gentleman,” she murmured. “But I don’t believe that for a moment. Only a true gentleman would offer to help me find a husband and, should he fail, offer to marry me himself.”
“Do you forget that I only offered for you because I kissed you first?”
She shrugged. “Well, I didn’t leave you much choice. What were you going to do, not kiss back a beautiful woman?”
The Duke let out a bark of laughter. “Oh-ho, now who’s arrogant? ”
She winked at him. “I learned it from you.”
Several moments passed, during which neither of them said anything or moved away from one another, so that their faces remained far too close for comfort. But Leah refused to be the one to break first.
It had to be him.
And at last, he took a step back, his smile widening and his eyebrow arching up once more.
“Tell me the truth, Lady Leah: why do you have no trouble quarrelling with me, and yet, when you speak to other gentlemen, you cannot seem to even make the simplest reply?”
Leah blinked and took a step back of her own. She hadn’t been expecting this question. So he noticed that. He’d hinted at it when he’d said she was demure to the point of seeming uninterested.
But now she realized he had fully assessed the problem and seen how bad she was at making conversation. Embarrassment flooded her cheeks, and she felt herself wanting to disappear into a puddle on the floor.
“What?” he asked, moving closer to her. “Don’t be embarrassed, just tell me what is wrong. I’m here to help you.”
She took a deep breath. If she couldn’t talk to the one person who was meant to help her, who could she talk to?
“I just never know what to say to gentlemen,” she said at last. “When they speak to me, I immediately start wondering what I should say in response, which only makes things worse, because then I lose the thread of the conversation and end up saying something completely unrelated.
“I… I think to hard about the ‘correct’ response or the most ladylike one, the most likely to win me a husband, that I fulfill my own fear that I will err and reveal that I don’t know the first thing about fitting in with the ton.”
Leah closed her mouth at the end of this, determined not to speak again until he had. She had said so much! Revealed far too much about herself! It was humiliating.
But when she looked up at him, she was surprised to see that he didn’t look as if he were going to laugh. Nor did he seem to judge her. Instead, he was watching thoughtfully.
“Well there is your first mistake,” he said, his tone gentle but firm. “A woman like you is not meant to fit into the ton. A woman like you is meant to stand out.”
Leah stared at him, her heart hammering in her chest. She didn’t know what to say. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever said about her.
“Alright,” he said, when she didn’t respond, “I think we should get started. Pretend that I’m a gentleman you don’t know.”
“What?” Leah eyed him uncertainly. “How am I supposed to do that?”
“Just pretend I’m a gentleman at a party you were just introduced to, and make conversation with me.”
“Alright…” She took a step closer, feeling ridiculous, and then said the first thing that came into her mind. “Are you enjoying the ball this evening, Mr…”
“Trenton,” he supplied. “And no, I’m not.”
